Shadow Slave

Even after living through the horrors of the Southern Campaign and witnessing the chilling resolution of the Battle of the Black Skull, Sunny still paled at the sight of the enormous swarm of Corrupted Beasts. There were too many of them to count, but there had to be tens of thousands of translucent crustaceans advancing toward the island.

Even Nephis seemed taken aback- a rare sight, and not a welcome one. She instinctively outstretched a hand, as if summoning a sword could save them from the plague of Corrupted abominations.

"It's... it's alright."

Her voice was even but lacked confidence.

Sunny forced out a faint smile.

"How exactly is this alright?"

Nephis lingered for a moment.

"These creatures don't seem capable of leaving the water."

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment. Yes, the abominable krill were probably incapable of crawling onto the island and devouring them. However, they were more than capable of devouring the Azure Serpent. And with the old snake gone, nothing would prevent the dark butterfly from landing on the shell of the slain Great Monster.

"That's right. You are going to die."

He flinched and glared at the Sin of Solace, who had appeared out of nowhere and looked at him with dark glee.

The sword wraith laughed, and then whispered:

"Better yet, you are going to watch Nephis die. Isn't it poetic?"

Sunny tried to ignore the vile apparition, but this time, it was much harder than usual. With the words of the Sin of Solace still echoing in his ears, he forced himself to look away and stare at the river.

toward the krill

fury. That snake... did not know when to retreat. Or rather, it

admirable, really. What

virtue. The Azure Serpent's extreme bloodlust had made it into a much more

large its maw was and how sharp its fangs were, the serpent could only crush that many krill in its jaws. A dozen at a time, a few dozen,

Great Beast's flesh. Even though there was a vast gap

the mad beast possessed unnatural powers, but it only possessed inconceivable physical might.

And yet, and yet...

root for the great river

on, old

leviathan was closing in on the rushing krill swarm, moments away from clashing with

yet, it

swayed, pushed back by the shockwave of a demented, enraged roar. Even distorted by the mass of water, it was still

The krill, however...

swarm like a battering ram. Sunny's eyes widened when he noticed numerous translucent bodies

abominations... were

them, those who had been closer to the Azure Serpent, were paralyzed completely, while those that had

and extended his shadow sense as far as he could, and then a little further still. He just barely managed to sense the massive shape of the Great

mighty muscles of the serpent moving, his long body contracting like a bow. Then, its tail shot forward like a whip, and a sudden explosion sent countless tons of water rushing outward in a crushing wave. The sonic boom was even louder

more were completely obliterated by the

were already rushing from all sides, aiming to bite into

snapped, grinding a hundred krill into

was like a drop in the

if trying to turn its long snout into a drill. Sunny did not see how this could help the Great Beast

stirred, forming a long whirlpool along the length of its colossal body.